Expert-based Content: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encarta and Wikipedia

I was interested to read here recently in the Boston Globe that Britannica is coming out with a new business model, offering on-line content and new pricing models. From the article, it appears that they have thought clearly about their core competencies and unique value. They assert (and I think they are right), that there is still room for content developed and reviewed by experts. Their core market is schools and libraries. Their in-depth to complex subjects means that they will never cover the number of subjects offered by Wikipedia. They don’t need to.

At the same time, Microsoft announced that they are closing down their encyclopedia business, Encarta. Here’s an interesting discussion here on this from Neil Wilkof about the “innovator’s dilemma” and the “tragedy of the anti-commons.”

To me, the question will come down to whether Britannica have a leg up on Encarta in terms of the quality of its content. Too generic, then you are just an expensive version of a free product like Wikipedia. Only time will tell but I do thing there will be a place in the market for content developed by experts and professionals. But that does not mean that the business model will not change. It must.

But remember that a lot of the costs of companies like Britannica have been, like those of newspapers, about printing a physical product rather than creating content. If you shed the physical costs, you are able to offer a much lower cost. It will be interesting to see what premium, if any, the market will pay for professional content.